Please join us in Microsoft Office at Reston, VA (12012 Sunset Hills Rd, Reston, VA) for a great presentation!

Networking and Pizza: 6:30PM - 7:00PM

Main Session: 7:00PM to 8:00PM

Using the SQL setup wizard and management studio (SSMS) to install and configure a new SQL server is a time-intensive process. PowerShell scripts can greatly reduce the time required to complete the process. They can also ensure build standardization throughout your SQL environment. In this session we will look at PowerShell scripting, including the basic syntax and commandlets needed to automate the installation and post-install configuration of a SQL Server.

Speaker BIO:

Jamie Wick is the Systems & Database Engineer for The College of William & Mary and has been working with databases for the past 10+ years. His background includes working for several years as a SQL SysAdmin for the University of Queensland (Australia), a Master's degree in Computer Information Systems from Boston University, and assorted Microsoft SQL certifications. He is a volunteer & speaker at regional SQL events (User Groups/SQLSaturdays), helps run the Richmond SQL Server Users Group and SQLSaturday RVA events, and is an avid photographer.

Monday June 22nd, 2015 at 7pm,

1900 Gallows Road, Vienna, VA 22182

SQL Writing SQL - Tom Staab

Tom Staab is a SQL Server solutions architect and developer. He has 26 years of IT experience and has been working with SQL Server in both the public and private sectors since version 6.5. While he greatly enjoys interacting with the SQL Server community and is always up for a good SQL challenge, his true passion is his family.

Tom's topic will be "SQL Writing SQL" and will focus on ways to use T-SQL and various catalog views to dynamically generate other SQL statements that can save you some effort in what would otherwise be tedious, manual tasks. I will provide a background followed by a few examples and then open the floor to questions.

Ok folks this meeting will be a double-feature! Microsoft Technical Communities is sponsoring this meeting and providing meals from Subway (sammich', cookie, chips and a drink!)

Session 1 - Overview of Windows 10 for Developers (30 Mins)

In this session a Microsoft speaker will cover the key features and highlights of Windows 10 for developers. Come early and get sneak peek at some very cool Windows 10 features that the developer community will love!

Session 2 - Getting in Sync With The Developer Next To You (60 Mins)

Using everyday tools, some free and some paid, you and the developers working with you might begin to feel out of sync in your efforts, over time. In this session, we'll review both tools and some suggested guidelines to help close the gap between today and where you want to be with the developers around you, whether that's immediate and technical or longer term and relational, or both.

Presenter Info:Brad McKuhen is a SQL Server Architect for Microtech Technologies, in the Washington, DC area. He has been working with SQL Server in some form or another since SQL Server 2000, and has been in IT for over 20 years. In his spare time, you'll find him devoted to his family's activities, and studying for the next certification.

Monday April 27th, 2015 at 7pm, 1900 Gallows Road, Vienna, VA 22182

"I Know What You Did Last Query" --SQL Server

Carlos Chacón, Principal Consultant | SQL Data Partners LLC

Starting with the 2005 release, SQL Server captures information about the workload on an instance, which you can use to monitor the system, gather performance metrics, and validate system settings. This information is available via Dynamic Management View and functions and officially they "return internal, implementation-specific state data." This session gives an introduction to these concepts, how they make DBA life much sweeter and we discuss many of the different community queries available to help you get jump started in your environment. We also open up the floor for ideas of how you are using these views/functions..

Before starting his own practice Jon worked at a number of noteworthy organizations including over 6 years at Microsoft, and 3 years at Avanade. He has been architecting and delivering various Microsoft-centric application development, business intelligence and infrastructure solutions since 1996. Jon has extensive experience with SQL Server security, logical and physical database design, and software engineering. He has architected and delivered custom software projects featuring web-based and service oriented architectures that leverage .NET, ASP.NET MVC, Enterprise Library, and SQL Server. He also has extensive experience in delivering infrastructure architectures including SQL Server, SharePoint and Microsoft On-Premises Cloud solutions. What’s more, he teaches, develops courseware, and speaks at several Microsoft technology conferences and events.

Abstract:This session will provide a general introduction to HDInsight; Microsoft’s new online Hadoop service that enables you to harness the power of Big Data analytics and machine learning. You will learn how to provision and manage an HDInsight cluster using the Windows Azure Management Portal and PowerShell. The discussion will include the roles played by open source projects such as Pig, Hive, Mahout and HCatalog.

Monday Februay 2r3d, 2015 at 7pm, 1900 Gallows Road, Vienna, VA 22182

Getting the Most from Query Plan Reuse - Andrew J. Kelly

Bio:

Andrew J. Kelly is a Mentor with SolidQ and a SQL Server MVP with over 20 years’ experience with relational databases and application development specializing in Performance, Scalability and Maintainability of large scale SQL Servers. He is a regular speaker each year and a contributing editor and writer for SQL Server Pro.

Abstract:Both DBA’s and Developers should be acutely aware of what it takes to ensure that every call to SQL Server has the best chance of reusing a previously generated query plan. Having to generate a new plan each time will waste precious resources and ultimately prevent you from obtaining peak performance and scalability for that SQL Server Instance. We will see how the SQL Server engine determines if a plan is reusable or not and more importantly exactly how to correct any calls that fail to do so. The best way is always to plan ahead and develop the code / app properly to begin with but we will also demonstrate ways to minimize the impact of poorly developed code in terms of plan reuse. We will see lots of demo’s to hammer home these concepts on both the TSQL and client side.

Before starting his own practice Jon worked at a number of noteworthy organizations including over 6 years at Microsoft, and 3 years at Avanade. He has been architecting and delivering various Microsoft-centric application development, business intelligence and infrastructure solutions since 1996. Jon has extensive experience with SQL Server security, logical and physical database design, and software engineering. He has architected and delivered custom software projects featuring web-based and service oriented architectures that leverage .NET, ASP.NET MVC, Enterprise Library, and SQL Server. He also has extensive experience in delivering infrastructure architectures including SQL Server, SharePoint and Microsoft On-Premises Cloud solutions. What’s more, he teaches, develops courseware, and speaks at several Microsoft technology conferences and events.

Abstract:This session will provide a general introduction to HDInsight; Microsoft’s new online Hadoop service that enables you to harness the power of Big Data analytics and machine learning. You will learn how to provision and manage an HDInsight cluster using the Windows Azure Management Portal and PowerShell. The discussion will include the roles played by open source projects such as Pig, Hive, Mahout and HCatalog.

Monday December 1, 2014 at 7pm, AT&T Building

Introduction to SQL Server Policy-Based Management - Kevin Hazzard

Bio:

Kevin Hazzard runs the Software Development Practice for Linchpin People LLC, leaders in the data integration and wellness space. He's a long-time C# MVP who loves database technology first and foremost. He’s the author of a book entitled Metaprogramming in .NET which concerns adaptive software design using Microsoft technologies. Kevin also serves as an elected member of his local School Board and dedicates most of his non-professional time promoting public education.

Abstract:Are you tired of herding your developers around to ensure that they follow the rules of your database? Then let SQL Server’s Policy-Based Management (PBM) engine do the work for you. We'll look at the rich set of PBM tools that you can use for keeping your database clean and manageable. We'll also discuss the proactive and reactive approaches to PBM that will work best in your shop. This will be a highly-interactive session where you’re encouraged to ask questions as we move along.

Abstract:As the title states, this is an absolute beginner’s presentation. I actually create a brand new Power BI site, completely from scratch, then provision it, set up a gateway, and then create a few basic examples. The objective isn’t to show off all the cool visualizations in PowerView and PowerPivot, it’s more to show the core mechanics of creating a site, pushing up content, and setting up a refresh through the gateway. The presentation is intended to show to brand new people that it’s really not that difficult. At the conclusion I’ll talk about some of the new features coming down the pike soon for Power BI.

Bio: Speaker photo Chris Bell (MCITP) has been working with Microsoft technologies for over 20 years and using SQL Server for over 18 of those years. He is currently the Owner and Lead consultant for WaterOx Consulting, a Maryland based company focused on helping companies that can’t afford or justify a full time data team, get the most from their SQL Server environments. For more information please visit WateroxConsulting.com

Abstract:You have lots of data you have painstakingly collected over the years. How do you ensure that data is protected from hackers, spies and other ne’er-do-wells? Understanding the vast array of security features available in SQL Server is the first step in helping you determine what actions you need to take now to protect your data.

NOTE: The Microsoft building has ample garage parking attached to the building and a large surface parking lot in the rear of the building. Both are free and do not require any type of badge or ticket to enter or exit.” We are on the 3rd floor, Room 3062. The building doors will be open as well as elevator access to the 3rd floor.

Bio: Sam Vanga helps business people solve their data problems and enables them make data-driven decisions. His specialties include data integration, data warehouse and database development, and BI design. Sam blogs at http://SamuelVanga.com.

Abstract:As soon as you have more than one person on a development effort, you’re basically guaranteed to see collaboration and integration issues. Most commonly, you won’t always know what other people are working on, your changes may break their code, and your team is actually LESS effective than the individuals. In this session, we’ll cover how development practices such as version control, unit testing and continuous integration can help ease some of your database team-development headaches. We’ll go over demonstrations of how to implement these practices in your environment (using Red Gate tools in this case) to improve the efficiency and quality of your database development process, and play nicely with the other developers on your team.

July 28th 2014 Meeting is cancelled.

In this session, we will discuss and demonstrate backup and recovery of your on-premises SQL Server databases to and from Windows Azure, a key Hybrid Cloud capability of SQL Server 2014. We will discuss key feature concepts such as the enhanced Backup UI, Restore UI, encrypted backups, SQL Server backup to URL, and the SQL Server Backup to Windows Azure Tool. We will also discuss the scenarios for integration of this technology.